ment all year long, even when the wins piled up earl

ment all year long, even when the wins piled up earl

MALMO, Sweden -- Canada will go without a gold medal at the world junior championship for a fifth consecutive year. Canadas gold-medal hopes ended Saturday as Finland scored three times in the second period and held on for a 5-1 semifinal victory at the world junior hockey championship. You can watch Canada/Russia on TSN, Sunday at 8:30am et/5:30am pt. The Finland/Sweden gold medal game can be seen on TSN at 1pm et/10am pt. Frustrated by a dogged defensive team and drawn into individualistic play and bad penalties, Canada was beaten 5-1 by Finland in the semfinals on Saturday. "Everything from penalties to neutral zone play to turnovers, we just got beat fair and square," team captain Scott Laughton said. "Its not like we deserved to win." Canada will play for bronze on Sunday against Russia, which lost 2-1 to host Sweden in a game that ended in a brawl. Canada lost the bronze-medal game to the Russians last year in Ufa to end a run of 14 years of finishing in the top three. "Its a game less than 24 hours later and youve got to do your country proud," added Laughton. "Its tough were not playing for the gold, but were still looking to get a medal and get back on track." Sweden will play Finland in an all-Nordic gold medal game. Joni Nikko, Artturi Lehkonen and Rasmus Ristolainen scored in the second period for Finland. Jonathan Drouin replied for Canada, but Finland captain Teuvo Teralainen scored on a penalty shot at 16:49 of the third and then scored into an empty net to seal the victory. The Finns frustrated Canada by playing for counterattacks, with tight checking in the neutral zone and by collapsing around goalie Juuse Saros to keep shooters to the outside. Unable to penetrate the defence, players tried to get through on their own, which only made Finlands trap more effective. It helped the underdog Finns that they got the first goal, even if it came on a lucky bounce. Julius Honka of the Swift Current Broncos dumped the puck in and saw it take a strange bounce off a gap in the Zamboni entrance door. Nikko pounced on the puck to beat an otherwise sharp Zachary Fucale. Then Frederik Gauthier took a penalty and Lehkonen scored. Then centre Nic Petan took an abuse of official misconduct penalty for saying something to a referee after he was stopped on a good chance by goalie Juuse Saros. Drouin got a goal back as he scooped up a loose puck and shot into an open side with Anthony Mantha clogging up the front of the net, but then he got hit with his second checking to the head penalty of the tournament, which carries a 10-minute misconduct. With two of Canadas four centres in the penalty box for an extended period, Ristolainen roofed a shot from close range for a 3-1 lead. The large contingent of red-and-white clad Canadian fans in the crowd of 11,544 at Malmo Arena kept the noise level high through a desperate third period, but Saros shut the door. It marked the first regulation time loss for coach Brent Sutter in three world junior tournaments, having won gold without dropping a game in 2005 and 2006. This years squad had lost a game in a shootout to the Czech Republic in the preliminary round. He was at a loss to explain why his team fell short. "It seemed we froze in the moment," he said. "We never executed our game plan. "We knew how they were going to play and what they were going to do in the neutral zone and we refused to get pucks into the areas we needed to. We played too much one-on-one hockey and when that happens, your game gets off track." Sutter is aware of the criticism that awaits from disappointed fans, but said the world juniors has become a tougher tournament to win since he last coached Canadas team. The fact that Canada sent its second youngest team ever to the tournament, older only than the 1987 team that was disqualified for a bench-clearing brawl with the Soviet Union, didnt help. This years team wasnt expected to dominate, although it has 11 players eligible to return for next years event in Montreal and Toronto who gained valuable experience. "Russias got a heck of a team and they got beat too,"said Sutter. "Theyve got a pile of 19-year-olds and they lost. Youve got two good teams playing for bronze and two teams moving on. "Its redemption. Its a chance to get back at them for last year in the bronze medal game, so lets see what happens. Weve got to make sure we treat this professionally and handle it the right way." Defenceman Griffin Reinhart is among three Canadians, along with Drouin and backup goalie Jake Paterson, who played on last years team and dont want to go home without a medal again. Reinhart admits that losing a semifinal and then having to play for bronze is a mental challenge. "It always sucks," he said. "I dont know if it can suck any more than it did last year. "Everyone, in their league playoffs, once theyre out and they cant win, theyre done. Its tough to get up the next morning once youre out, but I think well be able to do it." Neither Petan nor Drouin felt their misconducts were deserved. "Personally I thought it was a terrible call," said Petan. "I didnt say anything out of line. Thats just the way it goes here, I guess. We need to move past it." Drouin felt the player he hit took a dive, but added the officiating was not to blame for the loss. "We didnt play our game," he said. "They deserved to win. We got beat." The loss assured that Canada will go five years in a row without gold after winning the tournament five times in a row from 2005 to 2009. In the third period, Pouliot hauled down Henrik Haapala on a breakaway. Despite Canadian protests, Teravainen took the penalty shot because Haapala claimed he had injured his right hand. Against Switzerland this week, Canada wanted Drouin to take a penalty shot but the officials said Mantha had to take it because he was the player that was fouled. The Finns, who finished seventh last year, are assured of ending a seven-year medal drought. They have not won this tournament since 1998. "We had everybody together -- we were team with a big T," said Honka. "It will be nice to play in the final." Notes: Canada is 22-8-6 all-time against Finland at the world juniors, but 1-2 in semifinals. ... Defenceman Mathew Dumba and forward Charles Hudon were both fit to play after missing practice Friday with minor injuries. Moussa Sissoko Jersey . Eller said the Oilers were a "junior team" that was "all over the place" before Edmontons 4-3 victory over Montreal on Tuesday night, Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins took offence to Ellers comments and used it to motivate his youthful team. Fernando Llorente Jersey . -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have released veteran guard Davin Joseph, a mainstay on their offensive line over the past eight seasons. http://www.hotspurfcproshop.com/toby-ald...spur-jersey-uk/. Dane Dobbie and Shawn Evans each had two goals and two assists for the Roughnecks (8-5), who outscored Minnesota 6-2 in the fourth quarter after being tied through 45 minutes. Curtis Dickson scored once and set up three more for Calgary and Dan MacRae, Geoff Snider, Tor Reinholdt, Karsen Leung and Matthew Dinsdale. Erik Lamela Jersey . After just two league games in June, Toronto (6-4-1) will go on to play seven in July plus a friendly against Tottenham. Five of those contests are against Eastern Conference opposition, meaning valuable points in the playoff race are on the line. Josh Onomah Jersey . The Red Wings hadnt played the night before. The Boston Bruins had. A month from now, or two months from now, it doesnt matter. But right now it does matter, when you start and you play back to back, its wear and tear on you for sure, Babcock said.ST. PAUL, Minn – The clock lingered for what seemed like an interminable two minutes and 51 seconds before Mark Fraser finally escaped to the bench during a wildly one-sided first period of an eventual loss to Boston. "I couldnt believe when I heard after the game thats how long it was," said Fraser, in conversation with the Leaf Report, minutes before the team departed for Minnesota. "It actually didnt feel that long because that seems so unfathomable. None of us were able to move." He and his teammates would later sustain a similar bit of pressure themselves, hammering the Bruins with wave upon wave of pressure in a second period that was arguably their best this season. It was that style, that relentlessness, that enthusiasm that Randy Carlyle would like to see from his team on a more consistent basis. "I just think that the good teams in the league, they have a template and they play to it," said Carlyle, ahead of a Wednesday date with the thriving Wild. "They put the puck in and go to work. And we have to gain more of that type of an attitude from our group. Thats whats necessary to have success in the NHL and you have to do it day in, day out." Despite an 11-6-0 record that ranks third in the Atlantic Division, the Leafs have, to this point, only seen hints of the team they would like to resemble this season. Theyve not managed to impose the edge, force or speed which defined their attack with surprising success last season. Carlyle has harped often on the need for that to change. Bits of improvement were seen in a 2-1 shootout win over New Jersey last week, further signs of hope emerging in the loss to the Bruins over the weekend. "I think that weve been preaching that for a long time," said Carlyle. "There is an understanding that we have to play a certain way. And when you see signs of it happening, thats encouraging but its got to happen more often and thats what were going to ask of them." What Carlyle is looking for specifically is improvement at even strength. Though they boast a positive goal differential – because of terrific goaltending – the Leafs have only managed 29 goals in five-on-five situations, which ranks 20th this season. In the past three games, theyve scored only once at even strength. More alarmingly, theyve been outshot by a margin of 455-322 in such situations; attempting the fewest shots of any team in the league (611) while yielding the seventh most against (850), as per extraskater.com. "We need to be a better five-on-five team," said Fraser. "So far, our specialty teams have been pretty good for us, but itd be nicer to win more games in the five-on-five play and not have to rely on those which wont always be there for you." A source of much of the clubs success – in addition to goaltending – Toronto special teams, dominant in the very early stages this season, have predictably cooled in recent days.dddddddddddd Now ranked 13th overall, the penalty kill allowed a pair for the first time all season against the Bruins, the power-play empty in three opportunities and now 1-15 over the past five games. Special Teams Last 5 Games First 11 Games Power play 1-15 – 7% 12-45 – 27% Penalty kill 17-21 – 81% 40-47 – 85% What the Leafs did so well amid an impressive and yet all too rare stretch of 20 minutes at TD Garden on Saturday was pressure and pressure with persistence and grit. They outshot the Bruins 18-8 at even strength in the period, scoring their lone goal in an eventual 3-1 defeat. "The first thing we did is we dumped the puck effectively and we were able to get it back off our forecheck," said Carlyle. "And then we moved off the puck; we moved the puck and moved ourselves. Those are the things that are easy to talk about, but sometimes theyre a lot harder to duplicate." A tactic they employed with success against Boston in the playoffs last May, the Leafs used their speed and tenacity to wear down the Bruins defence. As a result, they sustained possession deep in the offensive zone while fatiguing their opponent. "Once we had them hemmed in, it was to the point where we werent allowing them to change," Fraser said of the game on Saturday. Hardly in line with the preference of the coaching staff, most of the clubs offence at even strength this season has relied on quick strikes and marksman-like accuracy (the Leafs boast the fourth-best shooting percentage as per extraskater.com). Only in very small doses has the club sustained possession and pressure in the opposition end. Often careless with the puck, theyve often spent far more time defending than attacking. Notably, the Leafs have yielded more shots than anyone but the Ottawa Senators (36.5 per game). "It hasnt changed in our minds," said Fraser of the desired template, "but perhaps just in our execution of it." The challenge has been demanding and attaining such execution while the team continues to win in manners that are unlikely to be sustained. Its for that reason that Carlyle has preached for improvement all year long, even when the wins piled up early. "Weve been recognizing it perhaps a bit more and just collectively trying to get back to where we were, which was a hard-working team that was initiating our style instead of receiving the other teams [style]," Fraser said. "Its hard to know when youre kind of sneaking away some victories." Cheap NFL JerseysWholesale JerseysWholesale NFL JerseysJerseys From ChinaWholesale NFL JerseysCheap NFL JerseysCheap Jerseys ' ' '